✍️ “Don’t be afraid to let loose.”
Author Anela Malik on travel, reinvention, and learning to trust her voice as a writer.
📚 Editor’s Note: Writing Yourself Into the Life You Want
Anela Malik’s work sits at the intersection of curiosity, courage, and reinvention.
On her Substack, Unfiltered & Fed, Anela blends personal essays, travel writing, and cultural reflection in a way that feels deeply lived-in — the kind of writing that comes from someone who has taken risks, tried things that didn’t work, and kept going anyway. What stands out to me most about Anela is how clearly writing functions as connective tissue across everything she does, from her newsletter to her travel business to the way she shows up online.
In this conversation, Anela talks candidly about her journey as a writer, the power of short, earnest pieces, and how writing underpins everything she does — from personal essays and travel guides to her book, American Soul: The Black History of Food in the United States.
She reflects on using writing both as a creative practice and a business tool, offering a thoughtful look at what it means to build a writing life that’s flexible, multidimensional, and grounded in self-trust — even when the path looks different than you imagined.
– Amy Suto
Editor & Curator of GuestStack
✍️ From the Desk of Anela Malik
Where’s your desk these days — and what does it look like?
My desk is wherever I am in the world. At home, I have a big, beautiful desk in my tiny studio apartment with my big screen; it’s so comfy. There’s always a huge stack of books—some more work-related or educational, and others romantic and steamy.
But often my desk is a hotel bed, hunched over, hurting my back with my laptop, trying to get things done while I’m fighting jet lag. The one thing I always have, no matter where I’m working, is beverages. I am a 3-4 beverage for a work session type of person. Something caffeinated, something sweet, water, maybe something bubbly. You never know what you’re gonna need.
You publish a great blend of personal essays and travel guides on your Substack Unfiltered & Fed. What ideas or types of articles or essays are you most excited about? And what was your favorite piece you’ve written lately?
In this new year, the things that I’m most excited to write about are personal interests that I haven’t had the freedom to explore because I was busy building a business, building a writing practice, and a company that could support me. Now that I’m in my 6th year of working for myself full-time and my 6th year of being a creator, I have the space to be a little bit more intentional.
For example, for the month of February, I’m going to Oman to be selfish. I’m going to do an Arabic refresher program to study something that I haven’t looked at intentionally in a few years, and I know from that experience I’m going to be inspired to write.
And I’d say my favorite piece I’ve written recently is called “A Dusty Could Never Compare To My Kindle” and it’s part of a series I wrote on Substack last year about life, love, and divorce. In it, I talk about the role reading has played in my life and what I learned from romance novels (so much but somehow not enough). I felt like it was just such a fun way to talk about something that is in the zeitgeist right now but we often don’t take very seriously.
What does “making writing your job” look like in your world right now?
So I never really thought of myself as a writer. I was a dabbler and then in 2020 I got offered a book deal to write a book about the Black History of American Cuisine (which just published in late 2025 and is now up for two NAACP awards this year!!!). So I’ve very recently come to terms with the fact that I really am a writer and writing is a core part of my job.
There are so many different ways that I’ve cobbled together making money while in denial over the years.
First through my newsletter where I share personal reflections, travel essays, and guides. Paid newsletter subscriptions are a key source of revenue for me. But also my writing supports my business in other ways beyond subscriptions. For example, some of my most intimate and personal travel essays have been included as part of sales launches for the group trips I organize and host. Writing well and being able to move people to action has helped me drive sales, selling those experiences out often within days.
And even as someone who at my core still considers herself an influencer, when I’m working on content, it always starts with writing: writing a script, writing an outline, writing a concept. From there, I get to the kind of social content that attracts viewers and earns me partnerships.
Now, I’m at a place in my journey where I’m just trying to be a better writer. I’m doing that in 2026 by trying to read something new and write something every day, whether that’s a longer, more thoughtful piece, or by responding to a creative writing prompt in my journal. I’m trying to just sit with the practice.
What’s one lesson you wish someone had told you earlier about the business of writing?
The pieces that people often respond to the most are often short and the ones that you didn’t spend a lot of time on. And I think that’s because those are often the most earnest. So don’t be afraid to let loose with a short little piece you wrote quickly and see how it goes
What’s your writing or creative routine like if you have one?
I write everywhere all the time. I have a lot of ideas and I feel like they’re always circling in my brain. So I’m always writing notes on my phone. I’m always writing in Google Docs. I’m writing at night. I’m writing in the morning. I’m writing on the bus. Some of them are just one-liner thoughts, and then I’ll be in the middle of dinner and have an idea for a piece that I want to write. Unfortunately for my friends when that happens I try to at least try to sketch it out quickly so that when I go back to it later the concept hasn’t escaped me.
Was there a moment you realized, “Wait… I can actually do this”?
Maybe this is the curse of being creative: I have never really felt like I have made it, right? There’s always something more to be done. There’s always another project to be tackled. But it was really in 2025 when my book debuted that I began to feel comfortable in my practice and my work. And so that’s when I said, “Oh, I can really do this. Even if it’s not what I imagined.”
What’s something you tried that didn’t work — and what did you learn from it?
I have tried so many things that didn’t work. In my entrepreneurship journey, I have launched products that failed. I have switched newsletter platforms three or four times because I’ve always felt like none of them really offered the tools that I need. However, I am quite enjoying Substack right now because it has more multimedia capability than others. I had a blog that I’m in the process of shutting down. The list goes on.
What I’ve learned from all of those failures is that there is value in trying. I wouldn’t be where I am today if I hadn’t tried multiple of those failed ventures. From each of them I learned a skill, I learned how to use an app, or I made a connection that I then needed later on.
How do you find or create opportunities for yourself as a writer?
I relentlessly self-promote which I know people hate, but who else is going to talk your shit if you don’t? I regularly pitch myself for opportunities and try to put myself in rooms that I probably have no business being in. But I also want to say that there’s a good amount of luck involved in success. I think for most people, even if we don’t acknowledge it. You have to be prepared and you have to do the work, but you do have to be in the right place at the right time
What’s the best investment you’ve made in your writing life (time, money, or energy)?
The best investment I’ve made in my writing life is a very cheap investment. It is an NFC tag and a free app called Foqos. Many folks have probably heard about Brick, which is the physical device that you tap that blocks you out of apps on your phone. Well, you can create a brick for yourself with an NFC tag and this app, and it’s nearly free. It’s so effective and really just calms the distractions in an increasingly distracted world.
Unfiltered & Fed is a bestselling publication here on Substack — what were the ways you grew it? Anything out of the ordinary, or surprising to you?
I have primarily grown my Substack following and my newsletter before that, through social media, because I am an influencer as well. I take snippets from my pieces that I think are provocative or emotional or just important to me, and I’ll record them talking to the camera. I’ll put a line at the end about how, if you want more of this conversation, you can find it on Substack. That’s been quite effective for me.
In some of the circles I have been engaged in, I’ve seen people scoff at social media and scoff at influencers and talk about how vapid the content creation space is. But it’s only as vapid as the content you’re engaging with. There is everything you would want to consume on social media and on the internet. You just have to find it. I’ve managed to curate an audience of people who are curious and who are readers. They love books. They probably subscribe to many Substacks. They love magazines. They love all of it.
What’s something you’re currently obsessed with — and how is it influencing your writing?
I read a romance book recently by Kennedy Ryan called “This Could Be Us,” and it’s about a divorcee finding herself again. She becomes an influencer. She has to learn how to trust herself again, and it chronicles her journey after her life fell apart. I really resonate with a lot of this book because that’s essentially what happened to me a few years ago. These ideas of rebirth and reinvention and self-trust and self-love have really stuck with me since. They’ve influenced the projects I’ve decided to take on for this year. They’ve made me more introspective, and will definitely show up in my writing in 2026.
👋 About Anela Malik, This Week’s Featured GuestStack Writer
Anela Malik is a creator, speaker, and the author of American Soul: The Black History of Food in the United States (National Geographic, 2025), a two-time NAACP Image Awards–nominated book and a love letter to the roots of American cuisine. On her platform, Anela explores identity, relationships, food, travel, and joy through accessible, authentic storytelling. She’s also the host of Our Block, a food and travel series she crowdfunded more than $65,000 for in 2025. A former U.S. diplomat turned creator, Anela bridges worlds, bringing cultural insight and bold perspective to the future of media.
You can find Anela on Instagram, buy her book, or subscribe to her Substack.
